Opioid Use among Adults Treated for Conditions Associated with Chronic Pain

DLH senior data scientist Zhengyi Fang is among the authors of an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Research Findings report on opioid use. In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new prescribing guidelines intended to address the concern that high dosages and longterm use of opioids can lead to opioid use disorder and its adverse health outcomes. Recently, the authors of the CDC guidelines acknowledged that doctors and others in the health care system have often wrongly implemented the recommendations. The AHRQ Research Findings report examines variation in opioid use among individuals treated for conditions associated with chronic pain during the 3-year period prior to release of the guidelines versus those not treated for those conditions but having some medical care for other chronic or non-chronic conditions during the same period. The results provide baseline data that can help inform patients, providers, and policymakers as they continue to monitor the effects of the opioid crisis and the impacts of efforts to address it. Other authors of the report are researchers from AHRQ.